A New Year Reflection
James McManus
Like many of you, part of ringing in a new year is taking time to think and reflect on the year past. What was good and what wasn’t … what worked and what failed … what was enjoyed and what should be avoided. The older I get, physically and spiritually, the more I think and reflect on faith, life, and God’s glory in both. Like a good ARP, I think about Westminster Shorter Catechism question #1 and how I can better live for God’s glory and His joy and the joy of being His.
Part of my reflection for this past year included my becoming moderator of Catawba Presbytery. If you want proof that God has a wonderful sense of humor, you don’t need to look any further than my being the moderator of this wonderful presbytery! It is a role that I entered into with a lot of fear and trembling. I’m a mediocre presbyter at best … and now I’m the guy moderating the meeting! But God is faithful in all things, including my serving in this role.
In my time as moderator, I have come to realize how valuable and precious a Godly band of brothers is. One of the blessings of my Christian life is God giving me brothers in Christ who are willing to love me, joke with me, call me out when I take things too far, listen to my complaints, give me wisdom in my worries and cares, and be patient when I send too many beard memes. This has come into clearer view as I have had to lean on them during this time.
You may be familiar with the proverb “it takes a village to raise a child”. Well, it takes a lot of good and faithful men to oversee a well-run presbytery. From the stated clerk to the reading clerk to the parliamentarian to the committee chairmen to the past moderators, it takes all of them for a presbytery to be efficient. It’s not a one-man job, nor a two-man job. It takes a village of faithful Presbyterian pastors and elders to guide, lead, and equip a presbytery. Now that I am on the other side of the curtain, I have a greater appreciation for how true that is. And, I am very thankful for this village in Catawba Presbytery!
My introduction to Presbyterianism began with Olivet PCA and Fellowship Presbytery (PCA). Men such as Chip McArthur, Rich Lambert, Wallace Tinsley, Rick Lindsay, John Gess, Shelton Sanford, Bill Fox, and so many others were (and still are) models of good Presbyterian men who were a benefit to their Presbytery. My journey in Presbyterianism has now led me to Catawba Presbytery, and I am thankful for that. I like to joke about the “Catawba Boys”, but there is some seriousness to that joke. There are so many good pastors and elders in this presbytery - men who deserve to be referred to as “Fathers and Brothers”, who have reached out to me to offer prayer and support, who are willing to come up and put an arm around me and offer me enouragement, and who are willing to find the right time to poke fun at me so that my ego doesn’t inflate too much. I am thankful to be a Catawba Boy and all the love and support that comes from being a part of this band of brothers.
In my reflections on this, I would be remiss not to mention that, as wonderful as things are in this presbytery, there is always a need for sanctification. I don’t have anything or anyone in particular in mind. I am just familiar with sin and its effects. I’ve seen good men bring marriages and ministries to ruin because of unrepentant sin. I’ve seen churches suffer from pastors who are too arrogant to apologize and seek a better way. We all know of situations where good things and situations and have been ruined by a refusal to deal with sin. I don’t want to see that happen in Catawba Presbytery, and the best way I know to address it is to start with myself. Like the Scottish pastor Robert Murray M’Cheyne said, “My people’s greatest need is my personal holiness.” As a Christian man, husband, father, pastor, presbyter, and moderator, the best thing I can do is to grow in the grace and knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I can love my Catawba Boys best by showing them Christ in my faith and life. The most loving thing I can do as moderator is to model Christ for the presbytery that elected me to lead them.
That is true for any and every one of our situations. As you reflect on the previous year and look to the coming one, I encourage you to keep Christ in focus and to consider how you can grow to be more like Him. That is what the people around you need more of - Christ! May He be the center of faith and lives, and may you grow to be more like Him in 2026.